Toronto police label York student's baffling death a homicide

TORONTO — Police are treating the mysterious death of Qian Liu, a 23-year-old Chinese exchange student at York University, as a homicide — although investigators are still unclear how she died.

Liu's body, naked from the waist down, was found in her basement apartment at the York campus on Friday, a death that has gripped the city's attention. Fifty reporters from English and Chinese newspapers, and nine television crews, crowded the lobby of Toronto Police headquarters Tuesday to learn the latest from Det.-Sgt. Frank Skubic.

But the detective said he is missing many facts in the "suspicious death" and many pieces of evidence. Police are searching for Liu's IBM Lenovo Thinkpad 400 computer, as well as the webcam attached to the computer with which she was talking to a male friend in Beijing on the night she died. They are also seeking a Nokia 5800 Express Music Smartphone, which someone removed from her apartment Friday morning before police arrived.

Skubic said police have not designated anyone a suspect. He said the investigation has been compromised by people posting information on Chinese-language websites before talking to the police.

"I would encourage anyone who has direct information on this case to contact us in the first instance and not immediately submit it into a public forum or on the Internet," Skubic said. "Once out there it may compromise the integrity of my investigation. Please give me an opportunity to assess, evaluate and determine the relevance of this information as it applies to the facts in this case."

One man posting information to a website, reported in both Chinese and English newspapers, said Liu had been stalked by a former roommate.

Skubic confirmed that Liu, who came to Toronto last September from Beijing, first lived at 46 Haynes Avenue, which is just south of York University, and in January 2011 moved in to 27 Aldwinkle Heights, three blocks west, where she lived in a basement apartment.

He played down rumours of stalking and said police are investigating at both addresses.

"I have no information to suggest she was stalked in the criminal sense," the detective said. "I know that she was, as I'm sure are many other students in the area, asked to go out on dates and she may have refused or she may have gone out on dates. That kind of behaviour doesn't necessarily constitute criminal behaviour."

He also said that a pathology report showed, "no obvious signs of sexual assault," on Liu's body. He said a toxicology report would be ready from the coroner's office "in the next coming weeks." Still, he added, "we are not going to sit on our hands and wait for the results of this investigation to come in. We are going to continue to investigate."

Police have spoken by telephone with Liu's friend in Beijing, the "online witness" who saw Liu let someone in her apartment, just before someone shut down the webcam link. He said there appears to be no recording of the webcam transmission from the fatal night.

"She was a hardworking student who did have a small group of friends here in Canada," Skubic added. He said the family is on its way from China, and that, through the Chinese consulate, he has asked for a photograph of Liu. He also reprimanded journalists who had called the family, asking them to respect their privacy during this time of grief.

In response to the case, and a separate incident of rape that was reported in the area on the weekend, the York Federation of Students is organizing a student-only community meeting, followed by a news conference, at York's student centre on Thursday.

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